


Beneath the Moon, Beside the Sea

by ShayLaLaLooHoo



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Disney Parks, The Little Mermaid (1989), Villain Recruiters - Tokyo DisneySea, 東京ディズニーシー ヴィランズ・ハロウィーン・パーティー | Tokyo DisneySea Villains' Halloween Party
Genre: Alternate Ending, Cohabitation, Dubious Morality, Eric is mentioned, F/M, Joe faints a lot it's canon, King Triton is mentioned, Love Potion/Spell, Post-Movie, Unrequited Love, Ursula is mentioned, in which Ariel isn't as dumb as people think, there's a storm going on because subtlety is my nemesis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24119536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShayLaLaLooHoo/pseuds/ShayLaLaLooHoo
Summary: “Ariel, are you feeling alright?”She curled in on herself. The only glimpse of her expression he caught was the corner of her eye, glaring at the teacup. “It’s a love potion, isn’t it?”His heart skittered. “What?”“You’ve been giving me a love potion.” Running a hand through her hair, her face twisted in a grimace. “Don’t you dare try to lie about it.”Joe forced himself to walk over to a chair, and he gripped the back rest for balance as he set the cup on the side table. “Yes.”Unamused, she huffed a laugh. “I thought it was too sweet.”
Relationships: Ariel/Eightfoot Joe (Disney), implied/past Ariel/Eric (Disney)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 24





	Beneath the Moon, Beside the Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Who Knows What Charms Lie Ahead?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25503553) by [ShayLaLaLooHoo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShayLaLaLooHoo/pseuds/ShayLaLaLooHoo). 



> The title was taken from a song cut from the movie, "One Dance."
> 
> [This painting](https://willow-s-linda.tumblr.com/post/187080883568/i-had-completely-forgotten-about-this-song-link) directly inspired that second paragraph and the general tone of this piece.

Joe stopped in the doorway, the cup of raspberry tea in his hand still steaming. “Ariel?”

She drew in a deep breath, looking out the window with her chin in her hand. The rain thoroughly dampened the sand on the beach outside and disturbed the gray sea. She stood out against that bleak background: her dress was a perfect shade of pink, not too bright nor too dusky, that somehow complimented her fiery red hair.

Considering how she hadn’t looked over at him, it didn’t feel right to give her the cup yet. “Ariel, are you feeling alright?”

She curled in on herself, her skirt bunching around her knees and exposing her bare calves. The only glimpse of her expression he caught was the corner of her eye, glaring at the teacup. “It’s a love potion, isn’t it?”

His heart skittered. “What?”

“You’ve been giving me a love potion.” Running a hand through her hair, her face twisted in a grimace. The rain outside battered the window. “Don’t you dare try to lie about it.”

Joe forced himself to walk over to a chair, and he gripped the back rest for balance as he set the cup on the side table. He wanted to ask how she knew, but that would be the worst of the terrible decisions he could and had made.

“Yes.”

Unamused, she huffed a laugh. “I thought it was too sweet.”

He had no response for her; he offered no explanation.

“How long have you—”

“Eric’s wedding day.” A full month ago. He tapped his fingers across the backrest. “How long have you…?”

Ariel raised her head, exposing her throat, and closed her eyes. Thunder rumbled. “I first guessed around two weeks ago. I wasn’t certain until the third, though.”

He wanted to run up and kneel in front of the bay window, to grasp her upper arms and ask why she kept drinking it for so long if she knew. Half of all this time, fourteen whole days, and she still drank the tea he gave her.

He sidestepped around the chair to sit down and buried his face in his hands. The few strands of gray-and-purple hair that wouldn’t tie back fell in his face.

“I wish I could understand.” She straightened her back, but kept her knees tucked up. “Why did you do this?”

“The contract…” Joe had already practiced his response, knowing he’d have to answer that, at some point; it still wasn’t easy to admit. “Ursula would have…I didn’t want her to own your soul.”

“So you made me fall in love with you,” Ariel said slowly, “so I’d get the kiss I needed from you, because I wouldn’t get to Eric in time.”

Joe swallowed. Although he had given her the love potion that day, it was after sunset. He’d somehow managed to convince her to kiss him by his own merits—merits that no longer existed, certainly—before that deadline.

“No…not really.” He tried to be honest, but some truths sounded like lies, so he hid those. “ _You_ didn’t need to be in love for the kiss to fulfil the terms of the contract.”

“Wait, what?” She sat up, feet touching the floor. “But it had to be tru—”

“Ursula’s contracts always had loopholes,” he interrupted, because he didn’t want to hear her figure everything out, “so she could twist situations to her advantage. And I knew every loophole, because I worked for her and read every contract, and I didn’t…didn’t want…”

He ran his hands up from his face to his hair, pushing back the few loose locks, although he kept his eyes closed: seeing her was torture. “His love didn’t need to be reciprocated to seal the contract. Ursula thought that once you got to know Eric, you wouldn’t really like him.”

After a terrible moment, Ariel nodded slowly, understanding but unaccepting.

“And you gave me back my voice.”

“I did.” Somehow. He still can’t believe he’d managed that without tipping off Ursula.

“But that was the price I’d paid for my legs.” Her tone sharpened. “Were you hoping to exchange my voice for a bigger payoff?”

He winced and wondered: if he drank that tea, just so she couldn’t, would he hate himself less? It was brewed with him in mind, after all. “If I only wanted you to—wanted your heart, I would have only given you the potion.”

“So why?” She jumped to her feet and started pacing. “What did you want?”

The sky lit in a pale flash. He watched her make half a turn around the room before he hid his face again. “I…because I could.”

“Because you could make the daughter of your enemy love you just to be spiteful to a dead woman? That doesn’t mean anything!”

If he was still under the sea, he’d have curled up in his tentacles already, as if that could protect him. Shaking, he dropped one hand and clawed at his face with the other, eyes screwed shut.

“Oh my gosh, just say it!” She was right in front of him; he tensed up, leaning back in his chair.

Ariel pulled away his hand with a cool, light touch. A spot on his cheek stung—he’d hurt himself yet again.

“Joe, please!”

He risked opening his eyes and found his vision blurred. Oh, dear Triton, was he crying? He didn’t know he could do that, but the sea had always washed away the tears before their eyes stung.

Ariel went to wipe his tears. With a flurry of panic, he grabbed her wrist, startling her.

“I…” He swallowed. “I just wanted to know what it would feel like, if you loved me.”

She seemed sympathetic for him, sickeningly so. “Why?”

Joe let go and withdrew his other hand from hers. He couldn’t speak until lightning cut the sky, shocking him into speaking.

“Because I’m in love with you,” _and it hurts horribly._

She set her face, and although he knew she’d already guessed, she needed a moment to let it stick. When her expression shifted again, it was familiarly angry and fiery.

“Then why do you keep acting like a jerk!”

This might be the most difficult question; every other time, he’d reply as he always did— “because I am one”—but not this time. He can’t get away with that.

“After you let me kiss you, I thought I could let it go. Instead, I got desperate.” Admitting this felt like pulling his lungs out through his mouth. “And it had been only a few hours, but it drove me crazy, knowing that I loved you and you didn’t…”

She took his hand again, her round, innocent, sea-blue eyes wide; he felt too tired to draw away this time. “How long have you loved me?”

Joe laughed, sharp and bitter and acrid. “Years. Pretty much since the moment we met.”

“Oh…my gosh.” She was about to kneel instead of continuing to lean over him, but he did not want her to be on a lower level than him. He jumped to his feet, pulling her up with him, and switched their places where they stood. However, he started pacing, ignoring the way that Ariel clutched her hands to her chest, tears brimming in her eyes.

She’d never been ashamed of crying, whether her most meaningful treasures were destroyed, or her heart was broken, or the love of her life was sailing away into a bright, beautiful sunset.

“But I brewed the stupid love potion and gave it to you and immediately felt guilty, because you looked—” he had to stop, his mind whirling. “You looked so lost. Like you didn’t know what was happening.”

Rain hit the window so heavily, water rippled across the surface like the waves outside.

“But then I realized that if I stopped, you’d probably just feel more confused. You’d still be in love with Eric, but you’d worry, because ‘what if it wasn’t true as you thought, because you had a crush on me?’ So then I…” He drew in a deep breath, feeling lightheaded. “I tried to justify this. Absolve myself. ‘Maybe it would be better if you forgot about Eric, so that you could move on and your heart wouldn’t stay so broken.’ Never mind how selfish that was.”

He was about to collapse, but Ariel was there, steadying him so that they both fell to their knees. Her voice was tight when she asked, “are you okay?”

Joe rubbed his temples, jaw clenched. “Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just…the air,” he waved a hand haphazardly, “is thin. There isn’t as much pressure as there is under the sea.”

“Oh, Joe, I’m so sorry.” Ariel put her arms around him, and he was about to push her away when he remembered what the point of this story was: why he was a jerk.

“I knew I needed to stop, but I told myself it was never the right time, because having you love me, I felt…” He swallowed, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand. “I decided that I had to stop being in love with you, and then I wouldn’t have a reason to give you the potion. That’s why I was a jerk. That’s why I’ve always been one. I was trying to push myself away and find something intolerable about you, and it didn’t even work. I just hurt you.”

Ariel scoffed. “All you did was flick my nose.” Then she did it to him, as if to prove her point: it’s the tiniest thing, more startling than anything else.

“That’s not what I mean. You know that.”

They sat in silence a moment, listening to the rain, the thunder, and the crashing of the waves running through their veins. Joe idly wondered if the storm was all King Triton, mourning the daughter he’d never see again. He felt guilty only for her sake.

Ariel finally withdrew, much to Joe’s relief, but she placed her hand on his jaw. He wanted to lean into it and leave a kiss on her palm. However, she started coming closer; jolting, he covered her mouth. She froze, staring at him, and he felt her lips against his fingers.

He didn’t deserve her, although she’d always looked into his eyes like his pupils weren’t horizontal, or smiled with him like his teeth weren’t suspiciously sharp. Even though she’d never cared that he had tentacles instead of a tail. Even though she had been enthralled the few times she’d seen him with human legs, when Ursula needed him to run an errand on the land.

She deserved better. It didn’t matter that she could be good for him; all he did was take, so he was nothing to anyone, especially not her. Sure, he’d played his part in getting her to the surface, and then helped her navigate and exploit Ursula’s contract. That was only common decency, which was enough of a challenge for him. He didn’t deserve someone as good as her.

“Ariel, you’re a princess,” Joe said. “I’m a sea witch.”

Her brows arched up, a devastated sort of shock glimmering in her eyes. But he knew that what she felt wasn’t true; he’d manufactured the potion behind it. As real as her emotions seemed now, they would mean nothing in the end.

There was a flash outside, closely followed by the thunder. The storm was closing in.

Joe had always hoped he’d end up with Ariel; he’d never imagined it would be on the land in a seaside cottage, but he got what he wanted, and since then, he’d sworn he’d do anything for her. Maybe, once her broken heart healed, he’d be able to make up for all he’s done.

But he’d always known better. He should have done better.

“One week,” he said, voice trembling. “One week without the love potion, and then we’ll figure this out.”

**Author's Note:**

> Just because you do the right thing in the end doesn't mean you're redeemed.
> 
> I LOVE the Tokyo DisneySea Villain Recruiters, and I love the potential angst/tragedy/drama of them having a crush on their bosses' nemeses.  
> It's all about the pining and the moral complexity, my friends.
> 
> Ariel and Eightfoot Joe are really compelling together. This isn't the only thing I've written involving them; in fact, I've got two other stories involving them and Aurora/Malfi and Snow White/Apple Poison, but those are turning into longer pieces. Really cool longer pieces, honestly, and I'm dying to continue them.
> 
> Anyway, Joe's a villain, and while I, as a moral person, disapprove of what he's done, as an author I LIVE. Anyway, I hope I made ya'll both pity and disapprove of him.


End file.
